It would definitely be cool to get a confirmation on that. I lean towards unintentional just due to the basic naming conventions they had for other BSS beers at the time, like BA Imperial Stout. I think that era, at least in the midwest, was to just name a beer what it was, but I'd love to know something different.

I also agree with your summation of BBQ being both a high quality beer on its own but also acting as a gateway beer and I feel a bit hypocritical enjoying high ABV diabeetus stouts while also at one time claiming that a to-style-beer (BBQ) being too sweet for my liking.

I think the point I'd like to land on is that both BLVD and Reaper were operating on a level way above where I was at at the time and did it with grace while also pushing forward my beer appreciation...and consumption.

Up in Madison for work and ran upon some super fresh Hop Butcher. Tonight's pour is Pizza Puff canned 8 days ago. Double IPA with Nectaron, Citra, Vic Secret and Superdelic.

Not sure what's behind it but we're getting regular drops of HB cans and kegs in east PHX

Either way I'm here for it

Have a quad then a pastry stout and go blind instantly!

I don’t regret moving to Phoenix 11 years ago. I love it here and what we’ve made our backyard into. Cheers to that!

I thought that Boulevard BBQ was terrible I guess I am not much for thick sweet beers. It was back when it was sold 4 pack bottles. It took me forever to finish them a would go to the beer box and reach for the cheap lawn mower beer and go to Hamm's instead. About four months later I was seeing what was in the basement beer box and found the last lone bottle. So I thought maybe it was just me and cracked it open, yeah no force finished it won't buy again. Now I see it being sold in 6-pack bottles for less than I paid. Costco sells it in a 24-bottle case and seems always on sale. My style is hoppy Space Camper Cosmic IPA can drink that all day long not get tired. It's available at any quick stop around KC.

Oktoberfest? In May? I'm a little worried about the PHX beer scene, lol. That said, I'll be in town in about a month for work, hoping to sneak out and get a little local beer flavor. I'll be in Scottsdale, likely only rideshare, what should I hit?

I was hoping someone would comment on this. ROFL

I got this beer at the end of last summer. I found it stuffed in the back of a closet where I forgot about it. Oh well, it was still ok enough after being 4 beers deep already yesterday. LMAO

KCU should be able to answer your question. He's my beer consultant.

The challenge with PHX is the sprawl

Close-ish to Scottsdale, I'd recommend

The Wandering Tortoise for a good tap list and beers to-go

Wren House

Roses By The Stairs

Goldwater - its a cool spot in a great location, beers can be hit or miss though

A good tap list with great food is Love Craft just northwest of Paradise Valley. Seriously the best combination of good beer and Southwest cuisine I've found in the valley. There green chile queso is fire.

If you're up for venturing further. The Shop Beer Co in Tempe is a cool spot. Inside is like a lounge and they have a great patio with misters. Had a hazy IPA collab they did with Boulevard there the other night.

And then even further out is my spot in Gilbert, Beer Barn, where I was last night drinking North Park IPAs. Its quite a trek from Scottsdale but if you're in the area shoot me a message and I'd be happy to buy you a beer.

O.H.S.O in North Scottsdale is a great place.
https://www.ohsobrewery.com/north-scottsdale/

Fate Brewery in South Scottsdale has some really great beers but not as big a menu as OHSO
https://fatebrewing.com/tempe-fate-b...cottsdale-menu

Phx Beer Co is in a great location on Hayden in the Gainey Ranch/McCormick Ranch area of Scottsdale. Great food and the outdoor lake as your view is awesome. Fan4ever and I have met up there several times for games.
https://www.phxbeerco.com/scottsdale-restaurant

Brat Haus in Old Town Scottsdale is a sneaky GREAT place for a real great variety of beers and the best beer garden in town. I love their food too.
https://brathausaz.com/

If you are in Old Town you can also hit up these:
Goldwater Brewing
https://www.goldwaterbrewing.com/scottsdale

Craft 64
https://www.craft64.com/scottsdale

King's and The Theodore also have great beer selections if you're ever downtown-ish.

Rift Wine Bar & Taphouse has a great selection in Scottsdale, too.

And you're only an hour drive from lewdog and Ground Control, heh.

Good call on Brat Haus. Its right next to Goldwater and is a nice combo.

Thanks, guys! Hopefully, I'll be able to sneak out and check out at least one or two spots...

I actually got to have a beer with you at Ground Control! A bucket list item for me. I can't make fun of you anymore.

#memories

Have either of you had the pizza at Ground Control?

Their pizza oven looks legit and they even have a Detroit style on the menu that be calling me.

My wife gets pizza every time. They do a great job with it.

I had really started getting into beer at the time the Smokestack Series came out. It really became an eye opener for me especially Tank 7 which is such a freaking unique beer to this day.

I lucked into a cool experience as a friend of mine was tight with local beer distributors and got me a ticket to a private Boulevard Smokestack food and beer tasting John McDonald was presenting the beers at. It was on a Thursday night (In Joplin) prior to the Cards/Royals series in KC around 2009 or 2010.

Long story short I met John, raved about the beer and told him I would be in KC for the games and planned to go by the brewery. He gave me his card and wrote a note on it to get me into the Boulevard venders tent at Kauffman before the game Saturday. Turned out there was a 2 hour rain delay so me and the wife spent 4 hours prior getting drunk with a bunch of Boulevard sales people and vendors before the game. Great time.

Man the brewery tours around that time were top notch as well. When they were still fairly small and it was real homey. I went back a few years later and it was just not the same but growth does that to you.

50 Beers to Try Before You Die
 

Really nice job by Cinder Block in NKC on this one!


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Absolutely, they have great pizza (haven't tried the Detroit style)... they have one named Hot Toddy that's delicious.

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I gotta try Ground Control. You guys are setting a high bar.

What’s not high is the service. It’s very hit or miss. Sometimes it’s down right dreadful sometimes it’s great.

How far are you from this place? Sounds like your "Cheers" bar.

5 minutes. No one around has beers like this on tap so I sacrifice service at times.

Yeah, they had a TG stout on tap once that was like $15 for a 4oz pour and the poor girl had no idea what she was doing with the crowler machine... it was a terrible seal after multiple attempts and wasted precious beer, and basically had to drink it immediately at home.

It's totally worth the drive though from most anywhere in the Valley.

You ever been there? Well worth a trip at night to sit in their beer garden. I love their sausage sandwiches.

Don't they realize you're the infamous Lewdog from CP? :hmmm:

I stopped in before a Royals/Giants spring training game earlier this year

Its legit

Sending this exact message to KCU.

Thank you!

Is Globe considered part of the Valley?

About as much as Buckeye where Ground Control is located

Getcha ass over to Ground Control and pick up any of these Hop Butcher hazy IPAs (except Live From Chicago which is more West Coast)

Or any of the North Park haze

https://www.groundxcontrol.com/menus/#beer

Beer in the Carolinas is pretty underwhelming, but Burial makes up for it... made the trip this weekend and they had just released 6 big stouts and they were all amazing. Grabbed a few to-go, too... they really excel at coconut and coffee.

Schmoojee distributes here, which is a pretty good option if lacking Drekker.


https://i.imgur.com/mK0ATho.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/GCF4YRB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/vSpNIbX.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UO7Tf6y.jpg

Bonus brewery... stopped by Incendiary Brewing.

They had a key lime sour that was pretty good, subtler in terms of the key lime flavor. Also had stout that tasted like burnt toast.

Their BBA stout was fantastic, well worth the trip.

There's probably a "Trendy Microbrewery in a Repurposed Factory" Starter Kit that comes with a 4.8 star on Google maps, but these guys are really onto something if they can consistently make BBA stouts like that one.


BA Shade of Lies- Imperial stout aged 12 months in Maple Bourbon and Blanton's barrels, with maple, coffee, and coconut added. 12.5% ABV


https://i.imgur.com/NEBH5Rx.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bP824Tw.jpg

If you see this guy floating around its worth a pick up, its out here in AZ

Cerebral Trophy Hunt

https://i.imgur.com/syQFpem.jpg

I had to consult beeradvocate to figure out what I've had from Cerebral because it sounded really familiar.... and I bought a bottle of there Barrel Aged Work From Home a while back. Wish I had dropped by the last time I was in Denver, looks like they make a lot of BBA stouts.

WeldWerks and now Cerebral in Phoenix... :drool:

I've been seeing Cerebral for a little bit here but its been their hoppy beers

Never had a stout from them but that Trophy Hunt is reminiscent of the big viscous stouts I'm used to which are few and far between down here...understandably so given the triple digit temps

Will be trying these today. Thanks to KCU for making me aware of dates on beers. A few of the singles on the shelf had 12-2022 dates. Yikes.

Very interested in how you like the mango joint

I still need to find a couple IPAs that are a few or 6 months apart and do a side-by-side... I know a couple people who will adamantly refuse drinking an IPA if it's more than 4 weeks old, which I find a bit extreme, but don't pay close enough attention to think... damn, this is fresh!

Its not just age but storage

Store cold, drink fresh

X number of weeks in the fridge != X number of weeks sitting on a shelf with the sun hitting it through a window

Its really finding that sweet spot with IPAs, which can differ due to brewery logistics and quality control. Some hold up better than others

Life's too short to be drinking unfresh IPAs

Someone at Toppling Goliath was telling me how much effort they put into making sure their beer stays cold every step of the way, all the way to chilled fridges at beer stores..... and then I got home and the local beer store had stacks of King Sue sitting out on shelves. LMAO :shake:

Larry Bell once pulled his beer from Illinois over state laws that tied him to a distributer that would pull that kind of BS. Not storing cold, giving priority to bigger brands, in-store placement, etc.

This one says "best by mid-August".... so, that seems good?

https://i.imgur.com/l5YRRiP.jpg

Ugh I hate best buy dates

Its ambiguous at best

Just tell me the date it went into the can, full transparency

Buehler is my financial planner and KCUunited is my life coach.

I’m finding balance at CP with these two.

And TG is much better about it now but back when they were in bottles their date was almost impossible to see. Intentionally faint.

Nothing more awkward than holding a bottle up to the light at the liquor store trying to find, let alone read the date while employees are looking at you like you're insinuating they're selling old beer.

Yep, totally agree... far better to say "born on xx-xx-xxx" and then if you feel the need to say "and also best within x weeks" or just say drink asap as possible.

LMAO @ best buy dates

Obviously meant best by but am triggered by the topic and mash typing

4 weeks seems a bit arbitrary, but I have noticed some NEIPAs definitely start dropping off the really bright notes somewhere around that age range. Who knows, might also be confirmation bias. I have really seen the drop in these new "hop kief" beers. Insanely good when a week or two old and then they start showing their age.

I see you are in Phoenix, do you see North Park (San Diego) regularly? I was super impressed with their offerings.

There's a handful of North Park taps and cans in Gilbert today

https://www.beerbarnaz.com/beer-selection

That's a solid line up. Would love to try that triple.

Damn this one’s really good. 7.5% ABV and from LA Cumbre Brewing in Albuquerque.

Dat glassware

https://i.imgur.com/OyFuFjw.gif?1

I have the set of 6 different beer glasses and can never remember which one to use based on the beer type I’m drinking. I always have to look it up. ROFL

This Firestone Walker is easy to find. It’s more hoppy than I like but not bitter.

Pool time soon!

Water + vodka > the best beer

Another BWillie hot take.

Nobody had their first beer and was like...holy shit this is amazing. It's because beer tastes like shit and its terrible when it gets warm or its hot out. Just something that has been indoctrinated into society as "manly"

Have you tried this yet? :hmmm:

Damn good and 9.5% is a thing of beauty. Very hazy with a nice flavor.



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I don't give it much thought for beer, except for putting stouts in a tulip glass.

I think a stemless wine glass is underrated as hell for bourbon though.

Your unilateral designation of every different style of beer into what YOU describe as beer tells me all I need to know, bud.

Lots of flavors in the beer world, my friend, and most of them are not like the fizzy yellow piss water that most Americans call beer.

The only drink we automatically enjoy is mother's milk, naturally.
Every other drink we enjoy thereafter is a learned experience.

dNobody every had a vodka water and thought it was anything more than a flavorless college girl drink designed to get you ****ed up at the lowest calories possible.

The thick dark beer is the REALLY bad beer. Just awful tasting. Why would you drink that if you could drink something that is easy to drink?

Why are you in this thread ? Just to troll?

To provide context and a different viewpoint of your own. Best beer is blue moon that is REALLY cold - and it still sucks. I enjoy when people disagree with me, what about you?

Nothing wrong with a cold Blue Moon, if that's what you like.

People like different things, it's crazy.

What I really like is that it feels like you're implying that there is some correlation between a beer's color and its' thickness.

The difference between a pale beer and a dark beer has zero to do with anything other than how the malt used to make the beer was heated/kilned/cooked before the beer was made.

Don't tell me, you think that all dark beers are heavy and high ABV? Dig the hole deeper, neophyte.

For all the super thick stouts that I enjoy, two that have battled the test of time are Samuel Smith Organic Chocolate and Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Stout... I think both are around ~6%, no thicker than a pale ale.

Those are the gateway stouts to better stouts, as you acquire a taste for them.... going from Keystone Light to a Boulevard Sugarwood as an attempt to try a stout is as ridiculous as trying something over 20% for the first time ever and it's a cask strength bourbon... uh yeah, you're not going to enjoy it. LMAO

I tried that one early this month. Definitely a good one!

Alright KCU, tell me your New England beer stories.



https://i.imgur.com/692rpS0.jpg

Man that's looks really nice

I don't have a ton of stories other than beercationing through the NE a few years ago which I highly recommend. I can only imagine it being like spots in Europe where there's just great beer flowing at the most non-imposing spots like its everyday life

I do feel though that NE changed the IPA game disrupting what some might pigeon hole the IPA style

West Coast being much drier and bitter to fit their climate and NE doing it at a higher finishing gravity with a different water profile and yeast strain which paired with certain hops created a differing IPA with a softer mouthfeel and juicier hop expression

I guess the story is that not all IPAs are created the same. They're regional similar to BBQ

Tossing it back, I found a Bottle Logic Space Trace on tap out here in Globe this week

That 13% abv and thiccc mouthfeel hits different when its 115F outside haha

Still delicious though

https://i.imgur.com/TPm5SWB.jpg

I mapped out a route between Hill Farmstead, Alchemist, Lawson's, and Foam... and will probably wait until mid-late September and hope the stouts have sprouted by then.

Saying it's always stout season hits a little different in Phoenix for sure, heh. I just saw Paisley Cave Complex on a feed the other day, too. :drool:

That's a good list.

We stayed in Waterbury as our base and I'm sad to see that some of the places we enjoyed are now closed. Unfortunately Alchemist hadn't opened their space when I was there

If you're in the Waterbury area I'd recommend Blackback Pub and Prohibition Pig

You can monitor Hill Farmstead as I believe they post what they're releasing a week before the actual release

And as always bags fly free with Southwest so I flew an entire suitcase full of beer back to Chicago

On my second 24oz can of Dogfish 90 Minute Imperial IPA.

9% and very tasty. Not getting that bitter taste I sometimes get from higher ABV IPA's like New Belgium Voodoo Ranger.

Thanks, Prohibition Pig has popped up a couple times now, and might swing by Ben & Jerry's, too

Completely random and probably TMI but if you love cheese as much as I do there's a large Cabot Creamery Store right near Ben & Jerry's

I probably spent an hour in there sampling like 100 different cheeses LMAO

If you're YOLOing on fat calories its a really nice 1-2 punch

I buy 120 Minute whenever I see it... at that point though, it doesn't really drink like an IPA.

I was curious if it was in the OP...

Add in all the beer and I should have started saving calories a couple months ago. :eek:

I found a local source for all the good beer as I continue into the Hazy scene. I'm enjoying my exploration into Hazy IPAs more than bourbon.

This one is damn good.

https://i.imgur.com/TxXizYQ.jpg